Charles R. Carson

First topic message reminder :

I stumbled on this guy by accident on MFF, and found some interesting stuff so I figured I'd make a post. Carson was an FBI agent in New Orleans who quit in the early 1960's to join and become Manager of Southern Research Co., the sketchy private eye firm clandestinely retained by Clay Shaw's lawyers during the Garrison case. Southern Research also employed former Bannister investigator and FBI Informant Joseph Oster, and SA Milton Kaack after he was disciplined by the FBI in '64 for the pre-assassination investigation of Oswald. 

Southern Research was at some point taken over by the Wackenhut Corporation, or was associated from the beginning - it's not entirely clear. Carson's assigned duties are pretty interesting: he went from the point man investigating Carlos Marcello with the FBI to becoming involved in the Eastern Airlines investigation into David Ferrie with Southern Research. During the Garrison case, Carson tipped off the FBI that Garrison was conducting a Grand Jury investigation shortly after the Garrison story broke in the press in Feb '67. The memo covering this contact caught my attention:



According to all other documents I've seen (not many), Southern Research was located in the Maritime Building. 333 St. Charles Ave. was the Masonic Temple Building, location of the CIA office in New Orleans, and also the Civil Air Patrol. From what I have seen, according to Wackenhut they didn't even have a New Orleans office. 

Carson contacted the FBI again in April '67 which generated the following teletype plus a couple memos:  



(redacted name revealed as Carson in other documents)

Based on the heavily redacted (on MFF) CIA Security file, it looks like Wackenhut was utilized by the CIA as a non-official cover organization in the 1960s. The line "contacts with" on the following document was only declassified in 2017, but there's all kinds of other stuff in the 51-page OS file that confirms Wackenhut was utilized for cover purposes. I'd really like to get a hold of an unreacted version of this file:

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=104127#relPageId=1

It just seemed to me like quite the coincidence that a CIA contractor was operating out of the same building as the CIA in New Orleans:



Also in April '67, Dick Helms placed an indefinite restriction on use of the Wackenhut Corporation by the CIA, supposedly based on Wackenhut's newfound notoriety in being appointed by the governor of Florida to lead their "war on crime". The actual appointment and press release happened three months earlier however, and Southern Research had just been mentioned in Grand Jury testimony in connection with Garrison's case in March.  

Both Wackenhut and Southern Research were investigated by the HSCA and the ARRB for CIA connections; but Carson is a guy I haven't really seen mentioned anywhere. What I'm trying to find out is if there is any other reference besides the FBI reports from Carson to Wackenhut/Southern Research having an office in the Masonic Temple Building.

There were other companies at 333 St. Charles: the NO Credit Bureau, VA Outpatient Services, interesting one is the stenographers who covered the Clay Shaw trial, but the only references I can find to Wackenhut/Southern Research working out of that building are from Charles Carson to his former employer the FBI. It could be nothing but I'm wondering if Carson screwed up in giving that address.

Interesting. Well either he's holding back or there's another Edward E. that teamed up with Carson etc. Maybe the complete lack of information on the guy is indicative of him being a spook. I really need to get to New Orleans and dig around a bit.  

I did find this, which has an Edward E Parent flying from Hickam AFB in Hawaii to Travis AFB in California in 1957, along with a Mrs. Ruth A. and Miss Jane, which might be a lead:



Also here's the Houston Edward in his 1952 yearbook pics: 



EDIT: John Mmahat’s son is a Hollywood assistant director according to IMDB, and might be someone worth contacting. I’m not sure how much he’d know but it’d be interesting to hear if his dad ever mentioned anything about the JFK case, etc. 

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm2934416/

Tom,

My suggestion.
Print out and mail the Garrison file to Ed Parent with anything else like websites showing business info relating to Ed or his addresses etc.
Show ancestry site stuff and ask about Betty.

Use my name too as needed.
This will get a response now.

Cheers, Ed

Ed.Ledoux wrote:Tom,

My suggestion.
Print out and mail the Garrison file to Ed Parent with anything else like websites showing business info relating to Ed or his addresses etc.
Show ancestry site stuff and ask about Betty.

Use my name too as needed.
This will get a response now.

Cheers, Ed

Thanks Ed, I will do exactly that when I get back from Canada. I got Bill Davy’s info too so hopefully I’ll find out what William Walter really said about Ed Parent. Walter was spot on in describing the previous employment of Chandler Josey and Bob Wilson in a phone call to Lou Ivon that preceded his interview with Garrison, so something must have got lost in translation either by Garrison or Davy when he transcribed the notes.

I found out that Southern Research Inc. had an office in Houston, address listed as 442 West Building, but haven’t been able to find any other info. I can dig into that at the state library in Austin, and try to track down the Houston Edward Parent and see if there’s a link. 

Another lead to look into is Golder Stoltz. He is the second witness listed on the charter for Southern Research of New Orleans along with Mmahat. I found out from Gagliano’s widow through his daughter that Stoltz worked for the Bourgeois family, who owned Dixie Finance at 2001 Metairie Rd. and the building the law office was in. One of the Bourgeois was named Glenn. Stoltz could have just been sitting there when they all came in, but it’s still worth checking out.

Last thing, Betty Parent gave her name to Garrison’s investigators as Betty Parrott - but in her dozens of FBI informant reports her name is always listed as Parent. The ‘60 directory has both a Betty Parent and a Betty Parrott. Parrott’s address is listed as 735 Dauphine St. After the assassination, “Betty Parent” gave her address to Regis Kennedy as 935 Dauphine St. I’m not sure if there’s any significance but I thought it was kind of interesting.

From: 
A Farewell to Justice.
Last bit is the pear shape moment...

Betty Parent was basically working for the FBI as a full time informant.
She was asked by Garrison to chk on Bertrand.
Ha!
Not if the FBI didnt want her to or give rumors to Jim.

"Joan Mellen also uses D'avy as a witness to tie Shaw to Oswald. She believes that Betty Parrott (actually Parent), an FBI informant, corroborates D'avy's statements. She writes in her book, And Justice For All, that "that "FBI informant Betty Parrott knew Davis had been fired as night manager at the Court of Two Sisters for bringing Oswald upstairs." (page 123).
Here is the report from Betty Parrott - note the last paragraph on the first page and the continuation on the second page" ~Litwin:





Betty is a stooge. How this relates to Edward E. and SRCNO, is it going to be another pear moment?

If Betty and Edward are connected that would be a full-blown bombshell IMO. There weren’t very many Parents in New Orleans at the time, and what are the chances two unrelated Parents end up linked to the JFK case?

One thing that stood out in that memo is the part about Grady Durham and the Maritime Building chess club. I looked into Durham, since he was an attorney and had an office in that building (I think it was #534) at the same time Charles Carson was running the Southern Research Inc. office in #808. Before, and possibly after (I don’t know when they moved to the Masonic Temple) SRCNO was incorporated, Ed Parent was likely working out of that office.

Both entries in the ‘60 city directory for Betty Parent and Betty Parrott list her as “Betty Mrs.” and do not list a husband. However, Betty was supposedly banging Bill Dalzell for quite a while and that’s how she was getting all her info. I’m not sure what to make of it. Would Dalzell really drag around his waitress girlfriend to all these sensitive meetings, etc. and provide a constant stream of pillow talk so she could go blab to the FBI? Seems like pretty shitty opsec, and Dalzell does not seem like an idiot.

There's already of plenty of stuff in this thread that very strongly suggests that the CIA was directly involved in the federal resettlement program for Cuban exiles, but I found another document that pretty much proves it: 




KUJUMP was the Domestic Contacts Division. I think it's pretty interesting that for this guy Valdes they were to "commit whatever required to make resettlement stick". It's also interesting that there was a CIA "standard procedure" for resettlement. 

Not that it wasn't already, but I think it's safe to file Bringuier, Arcacha, and Blanco ending up in adjacent apartments at Parkchester strictly under "not coincidence". Also, since Elise Cerniglia was running the resettlement program in New Orleans, and there's already evidence of her being in contact with CIA - she was undoubtedly an asset IMO. She had to have been, since what if an asset like Valdes wanted to move to New Orleans and had specific demands for where he wanted to live, etc.? There would need to have been a mechanism in place to accommodate that sort of thing, and the Cuban Catholic Center was it. 

Considering the document above, does William Sturbitts' testimony to the Rockefeller Commission sound completely truthful?





I'm gonna have to go with no.

This just has to be a coincidence, but it’s a pretty bizarre one. I found an oral history interview done for the Kennedy Library in August ‘64 with a guy named Mark Dalton, who met JFK in Boston 1946 when JFK was about to run for Congress. Dalton got a call from a guy working with the John Dowd Advertising Agency who were working on Kennedy’s upcoming speech to announce his candidacy. One of the people working with that agency -presumably on the speech for JFK - was a Mr. Ed Parent:

https://www.jfklibrary.org/sites/default/files/archives/JFKOH/Dalton%2C%20Mark%20J/JFKOH-MJD-01/JFKOH-MJD-01-TR.pdf

EDIT: Unless we're dealing with false names, this one can officially be filed under coincidence. The Dowd Company executive vice president was named Edward D. Parent.

Great stuff Tom!!!
Also of note,
HEW secretary typically kept that job for years.
But when we get into the late 50s and early 60's did the turn over become yearly. Hmmm
HEW secretary was the one to direct the funds etc per Eisenhower then JFK for the resettlement of cuban refugees.
Stated as a goal In The Land Of Mirrors the more refugees the bigger the success story, ie CIA propaganda against Castro.

Thanks for that excerpt Ed. Really interesting stuff. Got some free time today so I’m heading to the Texas State Library to look into the potential Houston angle with SRC and Ed Parent, and browse around a bit. They have basically everything so if anyone thinks of something they want me to look up let me know.

Also, remember how I mentioned that the only arrest record collection not available to the public at the NOLA library is 1963? I took another look at it, and from what I can tell the 1963 NOLA City Directory is missing from the city + state libraries, and jazz museum holdings. The jazz museum has a suburban directory and a phone book, but not the ‘63 Polk. Is that not a little weird? Like I can’t find anywhere that has one.

EDIT: No luck. No Houston listings at all for SRC or Edward Parent. I checked ‘55-65.

Yeah thats odd but somehow not unexpected...

Thats a great spot to track Lee's movements.
We know Lee went to Houston.
I found they had bullfighting there in Sept '63.
Perhaps some more about the bullfight dates times and souvenirs he could buy etc perhaps in an ad or story in the paper ....rather than some MxC bus bs.
Thx!

I found some CIA documents that reflect that William Martin, Director of International Relations and Trade Development for the International House in '63, was also working on a "special assignment basis" for Southern Research, and had been since '59. 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=55559#relPageId=3

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=14708#relPageId=5

Martin was a CIA DCS contact in New Orleans, lawyer, and worked as an ADA on Jim Garrison's staff until Dec. '67. Immediately after leaving Garrison's staff, he called the CIA and reestablished contact:

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=55188#relPageId=122

I'm pretty sure Martin only joined Garrison's staff during the JFK investigation but would have to verify that. Dec. '67 was also right around when SRCNO had fully dissolved, and Carson and Roberts got cushy jobs with the DOJ labor rackets commission.

I wonder if Martin's "special assignment" employment with SRC continued through his time with Garrison. I don't know if there's anything to it, but I thought this might be an interesting lead. 

I also have a request coming - eventually - from the NOLA Library for city directory pages showing everyone with the last name Parent from '61-'68. Of course, they don't have '63 or '67, which are the two years I'd want to see the most. I also got an address check on 4525 Duplessis for '61 - '65 (minus '63).

I found out that William R. Martin was also a part time investigator for Guy Bannister, and worked on flushing out subversives at Tulane University: 



This might reflect a direct crossover between the activities of SRC and Bannister - which was suggested in the SRCNO incorporation memo:



This guy Martin seems like quite a piece of work - he apparently had some involvement in some interagency operational military thing too:





Richard Case Nagell (not the most reliable source, I know) alleged that Martin was a member of the CIA dirty tricks division, and that he admitted he was still in the "reserves". Martin was the original ADA who interviewed Nagell. Maybe Nagell wasn't completely full of shit on this one?

I found something potentially interesting in the Malcolm Blunt Archive. On Sept 13, 1960 the CIA put out an investigative report on Guy Bannister and Associates for possible use as a cover organization. Supposedly the idea was abandoned due to Bannister's bar incident and other derogatory info. - but what's interesting is that the documents state that Joseph Oster, who was the original secretary of Bannister's firm, was also investigated during the proposal with no negative results, and that when the proposal was abandoned the CIA Central Cover Group was "furnished an alternate private detective company". Oster by Sept 1960 had been with SRC for two years - was SRC the alternate agency? Bannister was subsequently approved as a CIA contact source just a couple months later in November 1960 - right after CIA was furnished this alternate New Orleans detective agency for cover purposes, which is pretty interesting, IMO. 








However, the CIA told the HSCA that the CCS had no record on "Southern Research Corporation". The actual name of the original entity from Shreveport was "Southern Research Company Inc." -  was this some semantic bullshitting on the part of CIA?  

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=58198#relPageId=4

I've been trying to figure out if the author of the 9/13/60 report on Bannister was Security Officer Jim O'Connell, the guy who recommended the "alternate detective company". However, the author's name on the report is still redacted as of 2022. 

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=180727

The Bannister report originated out of the Los Angeles Field Office for whatever reason, so I have no idea what's going on or if he could have been the author - but I did find out from his personnel file that O'Connell was reassigned from job code 0436.83 to 0370, whatever the hell that means, on 8/7/60.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=159440#relPageId=73

The initial request to investigate Guy Bannister and Associates for cover purposes came on 8/26/60 - speculation is maybe O'Connell was sent to New Orleans on TDY on 8/7 to scout out detective agencies, and Bannister came up as a candidate? 




Even if O'Connell is not the author of the 9/13/60 report, I think SRC is THE prime candidate for this "alternate detective agency". Could Bannister's operation have been used as a subcontractor? I'm speculating my ass off but it would sure be a pretty ideal way to run domestic operations with plausible deniability.

Alright, last update to this thread for the day. I'm not sure how credible this lady is, Mary Helen Brengel, but I thought this was pretty interesting:



Brengel said she worked for Bannister from around June '63 to shortly after the assassination, and had some pretty interesting things to say to the HSCA and ARRB but nothing too crazy. This stood out because Southern Research of New Orleans Inc. fits the bill perfectly for a company incorporated in the summer of '63 in New Orleans with a bunch of former FBI agents as officers, and even had a woman (Shirley Riggs) listed on the charter, most likely as secretary-treasurer.

I’m still chipping away at this whenever I get a chance, which lately is pretty rare, but I found something that I thought was juicy enough for a bump. In the 2022 release is a copy of the 112th INCT Army Intelligence file mentioned earlier in this thread regarding Elise Cerniglia connecting Carlos Bringuier, Manuel Blanco, and other exiles with CIA personnel for military training in March ‘62. The subject of the file is “Carlos Bringuier” - and it lists two pages referred to the Army and WITHHELD IN FULL:

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=232057#relPageId=2

In the released portion, Bringuier’s name appears only once in two pages as one of the people who attended the meeting with the “National Guard” recruiters. It looks like previous versions had the same thing plus additional redactions on the released pages - but, I’m pretty sure those pages were previously released in full as an attachment to an FBI report. There was at least an FBI summary:

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=84465#relPageId=5

This is from FBI file number NO 105-1095, which I think is Bringuier’s FBI file. It looks like ARRB for whatever reason decided to declare only portions of this file as assassination records - including the withheld file #99.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=202874#relPageId=1

So I could be wrong but think it’s a pretty safe bet that the missing pages are indeed from a military intelligence report about Bringuier.

Betty Parrott
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rcRuDE9iU3mwbmntju02_a7hQqsgA2pI/view?usp=sharing (you will need to order this)


Exclusive Bringuier stuff.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cJhAREwuF9evRJWInO9rO-N2IAKeqewv/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v5wo923iA-rJ8lTW8260BqhSQ1oafP7c/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nImTikmu9-E7fhlAdwyVfyAEHZVnlgcG/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-UeKgWBzxWu4ISD3XKJkWTHulCiYjyPA/view?usp=sharing